The Cybernetic Walrus (The Wonderland Gambit, Book 1) - Softcover

Chalker, Jack L.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 034538847X ISBN 13: 9780345388476

Publisher: Del Rey, 1996

Synopsis

EVERYTHING YOU THINK YOU KNOW IS WRONG...
That was the strange message left on Cory Maddox's e-mail--just at the moment when years of work on a revolutionary subspace computer system were about to pay off. Nothing would be the same for Cory again. Suddenly his life was thrown into chaos when the company that controlled his patent was sold out from under him, and instead of imminent wealth, Cory was facing immediate poverty. Then along came Alan Stark, who wanted to recruit Cory for a special research project on virtual reality.
Initially thrilled to be involved, Cory quickly discovered that there was nothing virtual about the realities he was working on. Instead, he found that Stark was on the verge of controlling the very fabric of reality itself.
Cory was unsure of Stark's ultimate goal until he began to recall pieces of another life and found himself in the middle of a battle between two groups of people who could use "rabbit holes" in space and time to jump between different realities, personalities, and lives. Whoever had control of the power to shape reality would have the power to become a god--or a devil. But before Cory could combat Stark and his minions, he first had to remember which side he was on...

About this title

About the Author

A Reader's Guide to Science Fiction has praised Jack L. Chalker for his ". . . inexhaustible imaginative concepts," adding that he is "very popular with the non-stop action SF readers," who, in Chalker's case, number in the hundreds of thousands. Author of numerous best-sellers, Chalker is a familiar figure at SF conventions, often as a guest speaker, frequently as toastmaster.

From Booklist

Fresh from a trilogy of episodes in his Well World saga, Chalker quickly inaugurates a new series that explores the mind-bending limits of virtual reality. Cory Maddox is a brilliant programmer for a fledgling computer network company. He is promptly recruited by the National Security Agency when his company suspiciously sells out to a competitor. His new job involves reactivating an aborted virtual reality project pioneered by computer wizard Matthew Brand, whose incorporation of top secret alien technology apparently led to his demise. Checking out the agency's cyberspace realms, Maddox is soon trapped inside a perfect reproduction of base reality with no clear way out or even any certainty that base reality actually exists. Characteristically, Chalker's initially hard-sf premise gives way to increasingly bizarre and sometimes confusing plot developments, including body switching, alien intervention, and alternative universe hopping. Die-hard cyberpunks may want to pass, but Chalker stalkers should be delighted. Carl Hays

About this edition

• Publisher: Del Rey
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 034538847X
• ISBN 13: 9780345388476
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 322